Mercedes perplexed by 'strange' pace deficit

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg face an uphill battle during the Singapore Grand Prix after posting only the fifth and sixth best times during qualifying at Marina Bay.

Mercedes has struggled for pace throughout the weekend and neither driver was in contention for top spot, ending Hamilton's run of seven straight pole positions and Mercedes' string of 23 triumphs in qualifying.

"I enjoyed it out there but we just didn't have the pace," Hamilton said. "We weren't surprised with the pace of the Ferrari as it was like that the whole weekend.

"We don't know the reason why we weren't as quick today, we obviously didn't get the tyres switched on like everybody else did, but we need to look into it.

"We haven't lost any performance on the car compared to two weeks ago but the guys in front were just too fast today. Tomorrow is going to be hard; it's difficult to overtake but I'm still excited, I'll be pushing hard and will do everything I can to make up positions."

Rosberg says that his primary goal is to get ahead of Hamilton, who he trails by 53 points in the championship.

"The pace of the Ferrari is very impressive, starting from P6 is really frustrating," he said.

"I had no grip in the corners, which was very strange. But there is a lot to play for tomorrow. Firstly I will work on overtaking Lewis, it's very important for me to finish ahead of him.

"It seems that the front runners are also much quicker on high fuel from what we have seen on Friday. I tried a few things on the set up, but we didn't really find out why we are so slow this weekend.

"It's strange, until now we were quick on every track. But coming now to Singapore and seeing the difference to the quickest cars, is really not good."